By Wilbert Mukori- Zimbabwe is in this serious economic mess and political paralysis; having Zanu PF on the one hand and an equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition on the other; because, for 40 years and counting, the country been stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship.
All those who thought the November 2017 military coup would bring about the economic and political changes the nation has been dying for were to be disappointed.
Zanu PF has mastered the art of double Dutch, particularly in its use as a smoke screen to hide the obvious in plain sight.
“We wish to make it abundantly clear that this is not a military takeover,” announced the sweaty and overexcited Major General Sibusiso Busi Moyo on ZBC TV in the small hours of the morning of 15 November 2017. He was marking the climax of coup that toppled Robert Gabriel Mugabe from office after 37 years in power.
Of course, this was a military coup, all the key players in the drama; Commander C Chiwenga, Air Marshall P Shiri, the sweaty S B Moyo, etc. were all to brass military officers; this was a military coup in every respect except those staging it insisted it was not a coup! All double Dutch!
What is curious about Zanu PF’s “hiding the obvious from plain sight” is that the party clearly believes the have successfully hidden whatever it is and thus proceed with their plan confident it will work.
Ever since his appointment as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has promised to get the IMF, WB, AfDB and all the other international and national financial institutions back on board and bankrolling Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.
The IMF, WB, etc. cut-back their financial assistance to Zimbabwe back in the late 1990s and Harare had to meet a number of conditions before their resume funding. Ending Zimbabwe’s rampant corruption was one such IMF condition.
Minister Ncube has not only done nothing to stop the wholesale looting costing the nation “US$ 15 billion in lost diamond revenue”, according to the late Robert Mugabe.
Worse still, he has not even forced the looters to pay a single dollar in tax on their loot! Yet he has been nagging the IMF and others to restart the financial assistance, confident he had hoodwinked them all!
The IMF has not given Zimbabwe any financial assistance since the 1990s. And, following IMF staff visit in February, the institute made it clear that Zimbabwe had not meet any of the conditions and so will get no finance assistance. None!
Now we hear Minister Mthuli Ncube wrote to the Paris Club begging for a bailout!
“Paris Club members insist on the fact that the government of Zimbabwe’s desire to normalise its relations with the international community can only advance following the implementation of substantive and sustainable political and economic reforms, in particular the respect for human rights, especially the freedom of assembly and expression,” was Renaud-Basso, Paris Club president’s reply to Minister Ncube.
“In addition, Paris Club be closely monitoring international financial support to Zimbabwe for Covid-19 assistance programmes which should be implemented transparently, and in full compliance with its goals and rules. Once the country has met these criteria, it can request to enter formal discussions with the Paris Club for debt restructuring.”
We, the people of Zimbabwe, must demand that Zanu PF steps down so the country can appoint an interim administration that can be trusted to implement the economic and political reforms. Zanu PF will never implement the reforms and the party’s double Dutch is fooling no one and costing us, the people, the economic meltdown.
And now the price of bad governance has increased considerably; the international community’s reluctance to give Zimbabwe financial and material assistance in the fight against corona virus is going to cost the nation dear in human suffering and lost lives!